November 26, 2002

GAZA CITY — Israeli forces engaged in a fierce firefight with Palestinian gunmen early Tuesday as they rolled into the Gaza town of Deir el Balah to demolish the house of a suspected militant, the army and Palestinian hospital officials said.

The forces blew up a home belonging to the brother of Hamas militant Mahmoud Abu Huli, wanted by Israel for allegedly carrying out shooting and mortar attacks on soldiers and Jewish settlements, as well as dispatching the gunman who killed a soldier in the Gaza Strip last week, the army and Palestinian sources said.

Seventeen people were left homeless after the army demolished the Abu Huli house, and Abu Huli himself remained at large, the Palestinian sources said.

In a search in the house, the army said it found mortar bomb parts.
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